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Payback (2014)
Payback (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on June 1, 2014 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. It was the second WWE pay-per-view held under the Payback name, the first having been held in 2013 at the same venue. Nine matches (including the pre-show) took place at the event. In the main event, The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns) defeated Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista) in a No Holds Barred six-man tag team elimination match. It was the first WWE pay-per-view since Armageddon (2006) not to feature a World Championship match. Payback drew 67,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from previous year's 186,000 buys. Storylines The card consisted of nine matches, including one on the pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown. The main feud heading into the event was between Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista) and The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns). After losing to them at Extreme Rules, Evolution continued to feud with The Shield. The following night on Raw, Triple H forced Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, which was won by Sheamus. The Shield then fought The Wyatt Family later in the night; just as things turned in The Shield's favor, Evolution came out and distracted The Shield, allowing Bray Wyatt to pick up the win for the Wyatt Family by pinning Reigns. Evolution then assaulted The Shield and hit Reigns with The Shield's signature triple power bomb. The following week, The Shield challenged Evolution to a rematch at Payback, which Evolution accepted. It was announced following week on Raw that the match at Payback will be a No Holds Barred six-man elimination tag team match. Since costing him title matches at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, The Wyatt Family have been feuding with John Cena. This led to several matches at subsequent events, with Cena defeating Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania XXX in a singles match and Wyatt winning a steel cage match at Extreme Rules via escaping from the cage. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Wyatt challenged Cena to a Last Man Standing match, which was accepted by Cena on the May 16 episode of SmackDown. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan announced on May 12 that he would have undergo neck surgery later that week. Because of this Stephanie McMahonsuggested that Daniel Bryan would have to surrender the title if he cannot return to action by the pay-per-view where he was originally scheduled to defend against Kane. While his surgery was successful, it was still unknown if Bryan could compete for the title so McMahon gave him another week to surrender the title. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Bryan stated that while he found no shame in dropping the title due to injury, he did not want to give it to McMahon after everything he had been through. Upset at this, she gave Bryan one more chance to give her the title saying that if he does not surrender the title to her by the pay-per-view, she would fire his wife Brie Bella. El Torito and Hornswoggle would continue their feud. They previously fought at Extreme Rules in the first ever WeeLC match, which saw Torito defeat Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle put forth a Mask vs. Hair match wagering his hair against El Torito's mask which will take place on the pre-show. Paige defended her WWE Divas Championship against Alicia Fox at Payback. The two divas faced each other on the May 12 episode of Raw, which Paige won, and on the May 19 episode of Raw, which Fox won. Sheamus defended his United States Championship against Cesaro at Payback. The two wrestlers fought to a double countout on the May 13 episode of Main Event. On the May 19 episode of Raw, Cesaro defeated Sheamus in a non-title rematch due to a distraction from Cesaro's manager Paul Heyman, setting up the title match at the pay-per-view. On the May 19 edition of Raw, there were three beat the clock challenge matches to determine a new number one contender to face Bad News Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Payback. The matches were Big E vs. Ryback, Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry. Big E beat Ryback to set a time of 5:02; Van Dam defeated Del Rio and set a new time of 4:15, and Ziggler and Henry wrestled to a time limit draw. This gave Van Dam the win and the title shot. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Zack Ryder celebrated Memorial Day by coming out with an American flag before facing Rusev. Rusev defeated Ryder via submission, but refused to let go after the bell rang until Big E came in, eventually knocking Rusev out of the ring. This set up a match between both men at Payback. Aftermath On the June 2 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan will defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Kane in a stretcher match if he is able to compete. If Bryan is not able to compete, he will be stripped of the title, and the Money in the Bank ladder match will be for the vacated WWE World Heavyweight Championship. However, Bryan was officially stripped of the title on the June 9 episode of Raw. While Evolution was in the ring addressing that their loss to The Shield is not the end of their feud, Batista interrupted Triple H, demanding the one-on-one WWE World Heavyweight Championship match which he earned at the Royal Rumble. After Triple H explained that Batista cannot have a title shot that night due to Bryan's injury, Batista announced his resignation and left the ring. Later that night, Triple H and Randy Orton confronted The Shield, with Triple H announcing that their loss at Payback was "Plan A", and that he had a "Plan B". Without warning, Seth Rollins attacked Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns with a steel chair, turning his back on The Shield and aligning himself with The Authority. Bo Dallas took on Kofi Kingston in a rematch. Bo ended up defeating Kingston, continuing his undefeated streak. The next night on Raw, Cody choose Sin Cara as the new partner for Goldust and the two took on Curtis Axel and Ryback. Sin Cara and Goldust ended up losing and Cody, who was watching the match backstage, had a disappointed look on his face. He then proceeded to choose R-Truth next week on Raw and finally as a new persona called Stardust. In June, Paige feuded with Cameron and defeated her in two non-title matches. However, Cameron's tag team partner Naomi went on to beat Paige in a non-title match, leading to Naomi being granted a title match at Money in the Bank, which she lost. Results Other on-screen personnel See also * List of WWE pay-per-view events * Payback Category:Payback Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events Category:2014 Pay-Per-View Events